Chapter 4 Dragon Crystal and Ice Cream Toast (Part 1)

Although Leodo was urged by his tribe to venture out for training, he was actually a rather homebound little dragon. He hadn't even registered for a Raven Cage account, but he had come up with a surprisingly convenient solution. Lately, every morning a passerby would arrive with a handwritten order, hand it to Jiangyou, and leave.

As soon as Jiangyou opened the note, he saw Xiaolong's colorful signature and the order for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as the payment and tip required when the food was delivered. He was truly a lazy customer with deep pockets and a very thoughtful attitude.

Naturally, the delivery job fell on Xiao Nian Gao.

Fortunately, Xiao Nian Gao was very smart. Even without the Raven Cage, she would not have mistaken the existence of a dragon as big as the town.

It is a bit difficult to lure such a otaku dragon out of the store, but if the other party is a foodie, it is another matter.

Like most people in Huntington, Xiaolong has a sweet tooth. Of course, his situation is a little different. As a dragon, he can fly around the world and sample all sorts of wild plants and animals... yes, the key word is, wild.

Dragons can catch all creatures that fly in the sky, run on the ground, and swim in the water, and they can eat all the fruits of plants that grow on the ground, but they are extremely unfamiliar with delicacies that need to be artificially produced, such as steaming hot freshly baked toast with cold and soft handmade ice cream.

This hot and cold dessert reaches its peak of deliciousness the moment it is served on the table. At this time, the bread has just been baked, and it is fragrant and crispy. Wrapping it with cold ice cream can lower the temperature of the toast and make it easier to eat.

At this time, when you take a bite, you can taste multiple different textures at the same time, such as fragrant, crispy, hot, sweet, soft, and icy. These textures will become more complex as time goes by. Of course, it is best to finish this delicious food before the heat of the toast melts the ice cream and the melted ice cream completely wets the toast.

This limited-time dessert was naturally only available for dine-in and not takeout. Shortly after Jiangyou wrote a letter detailing the delicious taste of the dessert and inviting Leo to come and try it at noon, Xiao Nian Gao returned with Xiaolong's reply. The letter contained only three words, written so clearly that they could be seen through the back of the paper: [I want to eat it!]

Toast with ice cream, or 'ice cream thick toast,' also known as 'bread temptation' in some restaurants, requires a whole piece of toast, toasted to a perfect golden square. Jiangyou now has a toast mold and fresh yeast she's cultivated herself. Making a batch of toast might be a bit of a challenge, but making a single portion for Leoto is no problem.

Mix 250 grams of protein-rich high-gluten flour with 100 grams of milk, add eggs, fresh yeast and white sugar, mix into a dough, and leave it for a few minutes to allow the flour to gradually absorb other ingredients and form preliminary gluten structure. The dough will become smooth by itself.

The dough is not so sticky at this point and you can start kneading it.

Although Jiangyou lacks muscles and skin, this doesn't hinder his kneading process. The key to forming a dough membrane lies in repeated stretching, with kneading and pounding both playing a significant role. Jiangyou begins by repeatedly kneading the dough forward like washing clothes on a washboard, kneading it for a while before swinging it up and pounding it onto the table. He alternates these techniques, and in about five minutes, he's finally able to form a thick membrane.

At this time, you can add softened butter. When the butter is first combined with the dough, it will become extremely sticky. After kneading it for a few minutes without paying attention, it will become smooth again. From this stage, you can repeatedly shake the dough.

Jiangyou grabbed one end of the dough, swung it out with force, and slammed it hard on the clean table. Then he folded the dough again and continued to slam it down several times. When his physical strength was almost exhausted, he went back to the previous method of kneading the dough with a washboard.

Another five minutes passed. This time, a corner of the dough was carefully pulled out and slowly stretched on the bone claws. You could see that the dough was pulled into a thin layer of membrane like a rubber glove. This is the so-called "glove membrane".

The "glove membrane" is actually a structure formed by gluten. It effectively traps the carbon dioxide produced by yeast, allowing the toast to ferment to be fluffy, soft, and delicious. Therefore, people consider the appearance of the "glove membrane" one of the classic characteristics of delicious bread.

Of course, bread itself is the art of fermentation, and art itself has no fixed form. Even without the glove film, the same excellent taste can be achieved through repeated folding, long fermentation, hydration, and other methods.

The dough, which has been kneaded into a glove-like film, can be fermented. Jiang You put the dough into a porcelain bowl, covered it with a layer of moist and clean gauze, and placed it in a warm place to ferment for forty minutes.

During this fermentation, you only need to let the dough rise to twice its size. If it does not collapse when a small hole is pressed in the middle, you can pour out the dough and cut it into three parts.

Jiangyou sprinkled some anti-stick flour on the table, rolled out the three small doughs into a long tongue-like shape, and then pushed and rolled them from one end forward, tightly rolling them into a small roll.

After rolling it up, rotate it 90 degrees, roll it out in the other direction, and then roll it into a small roll again.

In this way, when the bread is fermented for the second time after being folded twice, it will have great explosive power and can ferment very beautifully.

Place the three rolled bread rolls with the sealed side facing down in the toast mold. During this fermentation, only fill the mold 80% full. When baking, the toast will continue to expand due to the heat, filling the remaining space.

When baking square bread, you need to cover the mold with a lid, but when baking mountain-shaped bread, you don't need to cover it, allowing the bread to rise freely. This time, Jiang You wanted the former, so when the bread was almost fermented, he closed the mold lid and put it into the bread oven. It would take 40 minutes to bake and it was ready to be taken out of the oven.

This period of time is perfect for making handmade ice cream.

Jiangyou chose to make the traditional Italian Gelato ice cream. This kind of ice cream only needs whole milk, fruit, sugar and other ingredients to make a soft ice cream that is dense, light and free of ice chips.

In order to please Leodore and make him eat happily, Jiang You took out her treasured dragon crystal and even took out chocolate, which was a good thing she brought back from Rose Villa!

Well, dragons should like chocolate, right? It's sweet, soft, and has a hint of bitterness!